As recently as in the early 20th century, spinning was one of the main female occupations, and distaffs with a spindle were the most common household items. From October to March, when the field work was completed, women and girls came together for gatherings (or “conversations”) in a spacious house and spun while singing and talking. In the spring, the finished yarn was woven.
Judging by archaeological finds, in the 15th century distaffs were already familiar to Russian women. They made it from birch, maple, aspen, linden or spruce.
The ethnographer Yelena Gennadievna Fyodorova describes the original Khanty and Mansi distaff as “straight pole, with one end resting on the floor or the bunks, and with the other — leaning against the roof, upper crossbar or ceiling.” It was accompanied by a spindle with a disc-shaped whorl. Khanty spinners worked near the pole on their knees.
The presented distaff is of the Russian design. Such tools were brought to Siberia by Russian settlers and adopted by the indigenous population.
The Vagay local historian Valery Vladimirovich Drogalev reported that in Siberia there were L-shaped distaffs that consisted of the horizontal board called dontse where the spinner sat and the vertical piece — the blade and neck, or legs, where the bundle of fibers was tied. Design-wise, there were one-piece distaffs made of root of spruce or birch and compound two-part models. In the northern regions, spinners preferred the former, and in the southern — the latter, with a chiseled leg and an attachable horizontal board.
Often distaffs were decorated with carvings and paintings. The name of the spinner was usually also embossed on the distaff. Hence, the spinner’s tool not only looked pretty, but also could never be confused with another woman’s distaff: when working in a group, each spinner could easily find her own distaff among others. It was considered a bad omen to five, even lend a distaff or spindle. The Siberian versions, according to Valery Drogalev, were not distinguished by “sophisticated carvings and paintings” and were rather “restrained in terms of decorations”.
Many traditions, rituals and superstitions related to women’s life were associated with the distaff. During childbirth, the girls’ umbilical cord was cut on a spindle. The first thread spun by a girl was burned, and the ashes were stirred in a glass of water and given to the young spinner to drink in order to preserve her diligence and perseverance.
